When I began mylifeautistic my words were not mine, but reruns of dialogue. A complex response system that kept me unable to talk for thirty years.
A deep level of masking that took away my own responses, my own choices, my life ... for a long time. When I posted I would physically shake, fingers almost afraid of typing the words. Of ripping away the mask and being me. I’d been masked unconsciously for 38 years. A lifetime of lifetimes. A silent voice, hidden away, but now finally freed.
I needed to be taught about the world we have aged 42. Rewriting In my mind what I misread in the media. Giving me answers to questions I have had since childhood. A complete overhaul of my personal perception, because I had been hidden away in front of a TV for 29 years.
My life before wasn’t mine. I was a shadow walking in the world. Unable to be like others but not made to feel it was safe to be me.
I look back at a life of pain, trauma and wasted time. That’s when I was reborn, authentically. Bursting free from a masked life that had me living in the ashes. Rising as a phoenix to light up the night for anyone still living in the darkness.
Autistic people need understanding, compassionate interactions, and acceptance for the individuals we are. That’s what we fight for at mylifeautistic.
This marks the first “Autism Acceptance Day” and I hope one day it will be “autistic appreciation day”. A day for teaching in schools about Einstein, Tesla, Edison, Michelangelo, as well as other autistic people now diagnosed from history. From different, backgrounds, different genders and cultures, going back hundreds of years.
The autistic community is the most diverse one on the planet. Our community is made up of a small part of every community in the world. Jeni and I say we fight for our extended autistic family, we mean that.
We hope to help create understanding in education, care, employment and the legal system. Reduce a PTSD rate that is much higher than the military. Lower a frighteningly high suicide rate. We can not accept the level of the pain that autistic people can face. The life that you can get for being different.
Autism acceptance is just trying to see the world from our individual perspectives. A neurodivergent, and neurotypical person, will see the world in different ways, from different angles. But could you imagine the world that could be created ... if we viewed the world together?
All our best and love
Ross Fraser and Jeni Curtis
Mylifeautistic
Words – Ross Fraser
Graphic Design App – Canva
WATER
People are incredibly different, an individual mind can be a universe to explore, capable of creation and collapse.
A lot of people look at others as a reflection of themselves. Yes, you can look in a puddle and see yourself reflected in the water and make an assumption.
Or you can realise that as human beings we are as diverse as the water itself. It creates power, sustenance, maintains life and allows for growth.
Assumptions can mean you could be viewing the ocean, but thinking of a puddle.
Thank you to Anna Kennedy and her team for inviting me to write a post for April 2nd. We look forward to following up with a radio interview, with Anna, over…